租金
zū jīn · HSK 6
rent
🏠💰 租 rent + 金 gold — the gold you hand over monthly
zū jīn sounds like zoo gin. 金 means gold or money, so rent is literally the gold payment for staying somewhere.
租 — grain 禾 + 且 (phonetic)
租 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The grain radical 禾 on the left signals the meaning, since taxes and rent in ancient China were paid in harvested grain. The right side 且 supplies the sound. Originally it meant grain tax paid to the state, later broadening to 'rent' or 'lease' in general.
金 — roof 亼 + two dots (metal nuggets) + earth 土
Originally a pictograph of metal nuggets buried in the earth beneath a covering, with the two dots representing pieces of ore. It first meant 'metal' broadly, then narrowed to 'gold' as the most precious metal, and by extension 'money'.